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Franklin in Paris: The Diplomat Who Made the Revolution a World War · Plausibly Live - The Dave Bowman Show Podcast

0:36
From the on Air Across America newsroom.
0:38
I'm Alex Ross and this is your Morning News update.
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President Trump has approved execution by firing squad for
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former Army Major Nidal Malik Hassan.
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Hassan was sentenced to death for murdering 13 people and
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attempting to murder 30 two others at Fort Hood in 2009.
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The Army secretary will determine the time and location.
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Additional litigation could delay the first American
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military execution since 1961. Trump has also signed an order
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permitting Hwy. use of dyed diesel through December.
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The order may defer the federal diesel tax for qualifying users,
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but it does not automatically forgive the tax.
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Federal prosecutors have charged a California woman with acting
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as an unregistered Chinese agent.
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The government alleges that Wang Ying Zhang conducted
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surveillance in Seattle against the son and family of Taiwan's
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president. The allegations have have not
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been adjudicated. Austal USA is building control
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room modules in Alabama for two Virginia class submarines.
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The modules will be transported to Electric Boat for
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installation. And the Seahawks reportedly plan
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to add veteran running back Joe Mixon to their practice squad as
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Seattle deals with multiple injuries.
1:49
For the On Air Across America network.
1:51
I'm Alex Ross. When, in the course of human
2:10
events, it becomes necessary to talk about the past, we have to
2:15
remember that history is strange, it's alien, and it
2:19
won't give us what we would like to have.
2:22
It's more than just dates or places.
2:25
History is the story of humanity and of our civilization.
2:30
And from that past we begin to understand what the future might
2:34
be. This is Dave does History.
2:42
October 1776. Benjamin Franklin is 70 years
2:47
old. That alone ought to give us some
2:50
perspective on what is about to happen.
2:52
He is about to climb aboard an American warship across the
2:55
North Atlantic. As winter approaches.
2:58
There is a British Navy looking for American ships.
3:01
There are storms waiting in the Atlantic.
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Franklin is already suffering from gout and other ailments,
3:07
and ocean travel in the 18th century is hardly a luxury
3:11
cruise. And if the British capture,
3:14
Franklin is not simply an elderly gentleman traveling
3:16
abroad, he is a rebel, quite possibly the most famous rebel
3:21
in America. Yet Franklin is going because
3:24
the American Revolution is approaching a moment when
3:27
courage alone is no longer enough.
3:29
America needs guns, America needs money, America needs
3:34
ships. And above all, America needs
3:37
France. Think about where the Revolution
3:42
stands in the autumn of 1776. July 4th is already disappearing
3:47
into the rearview mirror. The stirring words about life,
3:51
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have now encountered
3:54
the British Army. And the British Army is winning.
3:58
Washington has been driven from Long Island.
4:00
New York City has fallen. His army is being pushed north
4:04
and then across New Jersey. Men are deserting.
4:07
Enlistments are expiring. The Continental Congress has
4:11
declared independence without possessing anything remotely
4:14
resembling the resources necessary to guarantee it.
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So Franklin's assignment is extraordinary.
4:20
The Americans want France to supply 10s of thousands of
4:23
muskets. They need artillery.
4:25
They need loans. And ultimately they need
4:28
something even more valuable, French naval power, because
4:32
Britain possesses something the Americans cannot manufacture
4:35
overnight, one of the most powerful navies on earth.
4:39
The Revolution has become an international problem, and
4:43
Congress is sending Benjamin Franklin to solve it.
4:48
Franklin sails aboard the Continental Navy frigate
4:51
Reprisal, commanded by Captain Lambert Wicks, and look at the
4:55
passenger list. Franklin isn't travelling alone.
4:58
His grandsons, William Temple Franklin and Benjamin Franklin
5:01
Bache, are with him. There are 18 guns aboard under
5:05
Wicks's command, and then there are 35 casts of indigo.
5:10
That may sound like an odd detail until we remember the
5:13
problem facing the United States.
5:16
America desperately needs European supplies, but it
5:19
doesn't have much money. Indigo is valuable, so those
5:23
barrels aren't merely cargo they're financing.
5:27
The Americans are attempting to turn one of the commodities they
5:29
possess into the weapons and credit they desperately need.
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Everything aboard this ship has a purpose.
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The diplomat, the grandchildren, the cannon, the cargo.
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And every one of them is about to pass through a British
5:43
blockade. The Reprisal departs from Marcus
5:47
Hook, Pennsylvania, in late October, and now the mission
5:51
immediately becomes dangerous. British warships patrol the
5:54
American coast. Franklin cannot simply book
5:57
passage to France. The Royal Navy is trying to
6:00
strangle American commerce, isolate the rebellion, and
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prevent precisely the kind of mission Franklin is undertaking.
6:08
So Wicks has to get the Reprisal out into the Atlantic without
6:11
being intercepted. Once they clear the coast,
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however, another enemy takes over the North Atlantic in
6:18
November on a wooden sailing vessel.
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For a 70 year old man whose health is already questionable,
6:26
Franklin suffers terribly during the crossing.
6:30
Seasickness is one problem, gout is another.
6:33
He is also dealing with painful boils.
6:36
Then there is the diet aboard an 18th century warship dominated
6:40
by preserved foods such as heavily salted beef.
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Imagine the physical environment.
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The ship pitches and rolls beneath you.
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Everything is damp. The air below deck is foul.
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Privacy is minimal. Your joints are inflamed.
6:56
You're sick to your stomach and there is nowhere to go.
6:59
No helicopter is coming. There is no sick Bay in the
7:02
modern sense. There is only the ship and the
7:05
ocean. Yet something fascinating
7:08
happens during this miserable crossing.
7:11
Benjamin Franklin remains Benjamin Franklin because while
7:14
his body is rebelling against the voyage, Franklin's mind is
7:18
still working. He observes the Atlantic.
7:21
He takes measurements, He records temperatures.
7:24
Franklin had long been interested in the great Atlantic
7:27
current we know as the Gulf Stream, knowledge he had
7:30
developed in part through conversations with Nantucket
7:32
whaling captain Timothy Folger. Now he has an opportunity to
7:37
observe the ocean directly. So picture this.
7:40
Below deck is an elderly man suffering from gout, boils, sea
7:45
sickness, and an atrocious diet. Above deck is a scientist.
7:50
The same voyage that is carrying Franklin toward perhaps the most
7:53
important diplomatic assignment of his life is also becoming an
7:57
experiment. That is one of the remarkable
8:00
things about Franklin. He seemingly cannot encounter
8:04
the natural world without trying to understand how it works.
8:09
Meanwhile, Captain Wicks has his own work to do, because the
8:13
Reprisal isn't merely transportation, She's a warship.
8:17
On November 27th, Wicks encounters British merchant
8:20
vessels the George and the Levine.
8:23
He takes them as prizes. And suddenly this voyage has
8:27
acquired another dimension. Franklin is traveling to France,
8:31
trying to convince Europeans that the United States is a
8:34
nation worthy of support. At the same time, the vessel
8:38
carrying him is demonstrating that the fledgling Continental
8:41
Navy can carry the war into European waters.
8:44
That matters. Britain isn't fighting rebels
8:48
safely contained somewhere across the Atlantic anymore.
8:51
American warships are appearing near Europe.
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British commerce can be threatened there.
8:57
The Revolution is beginning to escape the geographical
9:00
boundaries Britain would prefer to impose upon it.
9:03
And that gives us one of the most interesting ways to
9:06
understand this voyage. There are really two campaigns
9:10
happening aboard the Reprisal. Franklin is conducting a
9:13
campaign of observation, science and diplomacy.
9:17
Wickes is conducting a naval campaign.
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Franklin has thermometers and journals.
9:23
Wickes has cannon and marines. Franklin's adversaries are the
9:27
ocean, winter and his own failing health.
9:31
Wicks's adversaries are British shipping and the Royal Navy.
9:34
But both men are serving the same larger purpose.
9:38
They are trying to demonstrate that the United States of
9:40
America is something more than an announcement made in
9:43
Philadelphia. It is a nation capable of
9:46
fighting, trading, borrowing, negotiating and surviving.
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First, however, Franklin has to reach France, and even that
9:56
refuses to be simple. Winter weather prevents the
9:59
reprisal from simply proceeding to its intended destination.
10:04
Franklin eventually reaches the Breton coast, arriving at Oray
10:07
on December 4th. And there is something
10:10
wonderfully Franklin about what happens next.
10:13
After more than a month at sea, after sickness, gout, storms and
10:18
the danger of British capture, he doesn't arrive in France and
10:22
announce that Benjamin Franklin requires a week off.
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He goes to work. Almost immediately, he begins
10:29
sending dispatches. Then comes the overland journey
10:32
toward Paris. And now the nature of Franklin's
10:36
mission changes completely. The Atlantic is behind him.
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Ahead lies Versailles. The enemy is no longer a winter
10:44
Gale or a British cruiser. Now Franklin must navigate
10:48
something potentially even more dangerous, European diplomacy.
10:53
And this is where we need to resist the temptation to make
10:56
the story too neat. Franklin does not arrive in
11:00
France, walk into Versailles, charm the king, and walk out
11:04
carrying a French alliance. That isn't what happened.
11:07
The diplomatic campaign will take time.
11:10
France is already secretly assisting the Americans, but
11:14
openly entering the war against Britain is an entirely different
11:17
proposition. Franklin has to help convince
11:20
the French that America can survive, that supporting the
11:24
revolution is worth the enormous risk of another war with
11:27
Britain. Money begins to move.
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Supplies continue to move. Franklin becomes something close
11:34
to a celebrity in France. But the decisive event doesn't
11:38
happen in Paris. It happens back in America.
11:42
Saratoga. News of the American victory
11:45
reaches France in December 1777. Now the calculation changes.
11:51
The Americans haven't merely survived, they have defeated and
11:55
captured a major British Army. And on February 6th, 1778,
12:00
France and the United States signed the treaties that
12:03
transform the Revolution. France is no longer merely
12:06
helping the rebellion from the shadows.
12:09
France is entering the struggle, which means Britain now faces
12:13
French money, French weapons, French soldiers and most
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importantly, the French Navy. And suddenly that miserable
12:21
voyage aboard the Reprisal looks very different.
12:25
A 670 year old man crossed the winter Atlantic carrying an
12:29
almost impossible assignment. He left behind a revolution that
12:33
appeared to be approaching disaster.
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He reached France with no guarantee that his diplomacy
12:38
would work. But Franklin understood
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something fundamental. If the Revolution remained
12:44
merely a contest between Britain and 13 rebellious colonies,
12:48
Britain possessed enormous advantages.
12:51
If Franklin could turn it into an international war, Britain
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had a much bigger problem. And that may be the real
13:00
significance of Franklin's voyage.
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Washington was fighting to keep the revolution alive in America.
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Benjamin Franklin crossed the Atlantic to make certain Britain
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would eventually have to fight for it everywhere.
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The British had the army, the Navy and the money.
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The Americans had a cause, a continent, and absolutely no
13:35
idea how difficult this was going to be.
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This is Dave does History. Benjamin Franklin has made it to
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France, and if this were simply a diplomatic mission, the next
13:50
part of the story would be fairly straightforward.
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Franklin would meet ministers. He would negotiate loans.
13:56
He would lobby the French government to recognize American
13:59
independence and eventually persuade France to enter the
14:02
war. Except that isn't quite what
14:05
happened, because Franklin's headquarters outside Paris
14:09
became something considerably more complicated.
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It was an embassy before the United States really had
14:15
embassies. It was a political salon.
14:17
It was an intelligence center. It helped coordinate American
14:21
naval operations in European waters.
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And it was thoroughly penetrated by British intelligence.
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Franklin had crossed the Atlantic to outmaneuver the
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British Empire. The British followed him right
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into his own house. We left Franklin arriving in
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Brittany on December 4th, 1776. The important thing here is how
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quickly Franklin changes gears. He has just endured an awful
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Atlantic crossing. He's 70 years old.
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He's been seasick, suffering from gout and boils, and the
14:54
weather has forced the Reprisal away from its intended
14:56
destination. But Franklin gets ashore and
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immediately begins behaving like a diplomat.
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He begins drafting dispatches even before undertaking the
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difficult overland journey toward Paris, because Franklin
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understands the urgency. Every day matters.
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Washington's army is in retreat in America.
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Congress needs money, it needs weapons, and Franklin has to
15:21
persuade the French government that supporting this apparently
15:24
collapsing rebellion is somehow a good investment.
15:28
But Franklin possesses 1 diplomatic weapon that nobody in
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Congress could have packed into those 35 barrels of indigo.
15:36
Benjamin Franklin himself. This is where Franklin does
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something brilliant. He becomes a character.
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Look at what he is wearing. The plain brown suit, the fur
15:49
cap. No powdered aristocratic wig, no
15:53
elaborate court costume. To French society, Franklin
15:57
presents himself as something almost exotic, the natural man
16:01
from the New World, the philosopher from the wilderness,
16:05
the embodiment of republican simplicity.
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Now, we shouldn't mistake the costume for the man.
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Franklin had spent years in London.
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He understood European Society very well.
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He was one of the most sophisticated Americans alive.
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There was nothing naive about this.
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Franklin understood image. He understood an audience.
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And he understood that 18th century France was fascinated by
16:29
America and by Enlightenment ideas about nature, liberty and
16:33
republican virtue. So Franklin gave them Benjamin
16:37
Franklin, or more precisely, he gave them the Benjamin Franklin
16:41
they wanted to see. The fur cap became almost a
16:44
trademark. His image appeared everywhere.
16:47
Franklin became a celebrity, and celebrity gave him access.
16:53
Franklin establishes himself at Pasi, just outside Paris, at the
16:57
Hotel de Valentinois. And from here we begin seeing
17:00
the two sides of his mission operating simultaneously.
17:04
On December 28th, Franklin meets secretly with the French foreign
17:07
minister, the Comte de Virgin. The Americans need money, and
17:12
French assistance is already moving covertly toward the
17:15
rebellion. France has a delicate problem.
17:18
It would very much enjoy watching Britain lose its
17:21
American colonies. What France does not yet want is
17:24
an open war with Britain. So assistance has to remain
17:28
deniable. Money, weapons, supplies, all
17:32
moving toward the Americans while everyone maintains the
17:35
polite fiction that France isn't really doing anything.
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Meanwhile, Franklin is involved with another form of pressure.
17:42
American naval Raiders, men such as Lambert Wicks and Gustavus
17:47
Conningham, begin striking British commerce in European
17:49
waters. And this drives the British
17:52
ambassador in Paris, Lord Stormont, absolutely mad because
17:56
Franklin is simultaneously presenting himself as the
17:59
charming philosopher of liberty while American vessels are
18:03
attacking British shipping practically on Britain's
18:05
doorstep. This is diplomacy conducted with
18:08
a smile in one room and cannon fire somewhere over the horizon.
18:13
And that's the contradiction at the center of Franklin's
18:16
operation. There is Franklin the diplomat
18:19
and Franklin the operator. The diplomat discusses
18:22
philosophy and science. He charms French society.
18:26
He cultivates intellectuals, aristocrats and political
18:29
figures. And then there is the other
18:31
Franklin. The man securing covert
18:33
assistance, the man corresponding with American
18:36
naval officers, the man helping coordinate a war against Britain
18:40
from French territory while France and Britain are
18:43
technically at peace. The brown homespun suit and fur
18:47
cap are perfect for one Franklin.
18:49
The other Franklin operates behind closed doors.
18:52
And here is the problem. Franklin's headquarters is
18:55
extraordinarily open. People are constantly coming and
18:59
going. Visitors, admirers, petitioners,
19:02
inventors, adventurers, people seeking commissions, people
19:06
seeking money, people seeking Franklin.
19:10
And somewhere among all those people are spies.
19:14
One of them is Edward Bancroft. And this is where the story
19:17
becomes almost unbelievable. Bancroft is an American born
19:22
physician and scientist. He is also secretary to the
19:25
American Commissioners in Paris, which means he has access to
19:29
extraordinarily sensitive information.
19:32
American diplomacy, negotiations, naval operations,
19:36
plans, correspondence and Bancroft is working for the
19:40
British. His reports are written using
19:43
invisible ink. Once each week, intelligence is
19:46
deposited in a hollow tree in the Tuileries Gardens.
19:50
British agents retrieve it, and the information makes its way to
19:53
London. Think about that.
19:55
Franklin is attempting to conduct a clandestine diplomatic
19:58
and naval campaign against Britain, and British
20:01
intelligence has essentially placed someone inside the
20:04
American operation. London is learning what Franklin
20:07
is doing from a man sitting close enough to watch him do it.
20:10
And apparently Franklin never discovers Bancroft's betrayal
20:15
for years. That raises an interesting
20:18
question about Franklin's operation.
20:20
Was he a brilliant diplomat who tolerated a certain amount of
20:23
espionage because he understood that Paris was crawling with
20:26
spies? Or was his operation simply
20:29
catastrophically insecure? There is probably some truth in
20:33
both, because Franklin's diplomacy ultimately works
20:36
despite the intelligence breach. And the reason it works has
20:40
relatively little to do with secrecy.
20:42
It has everything to do with what happens on an American
20:45
battlefield. December 4th, 1777, Exactly 1
20:50
year after Franklin landed in France, an American Courier
20:54
named Jonathan Loring Austin arrives at Pasi.
20:58
He brings extraordinary news. General John Burgoyne has
21:01
surrendered at Saratoga, and suddenly the entire diplomatic
21:06
equation changes. Until Saratoga, France has been
21:10
gambling on the possibility that the Americans might survive.
21:13
Now the Americans have demonstrated that they can
21:16
defeat a major British Army. Even more importantly, the
21:20
French become concerned that Britain might respond by
21:23
offering the Americans favorable peace terms.
21:26
Imagine the nightmare from the French perspective.
21:28
France has secretly spent money supporting the American
21:31
rebellion, only to have Britain and America reconcile.
21:35
So Virgin moves. On February 6th, 1778, Benjamin
21:40
Franklin, Silas Dean and Arthur Lee signed the Treaty of Amity
21:44
and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance with France, and
21:48
Franklin chooses his clothing very carefully.
21:51
The brown homespun disappears. So does the fur cap.
21:55
Franklin wears a blue Manchester velvet suit, and that suit has a
21:59
history. Four years earlier, Franklin had
22:02
worn it in London when Alexander Wedderburn publicly humiliated
22:05
him before the Privy Council during the Hutchinson Letters
22:08
Affair. Franklin never forgot it.
22:11
So when the day comes that France formally allies itself
22:14
with the United States against Britain, Franklin wears the same
22:18
suit. He supposedly called it his
22:20
little revenge. And there is something
22:23
wonderfully Franklin about that. He didn't defeat the British spy
22:27
network. He didn't prevent London from
22:29
reading American secrets. He couldn't guarantee that the
22:32
Revolution would survive. What Franklin could do was make
22:36
the larger strategic argument irresistible.
22:39
France didn't have to love the United States.
22:42
France simply had to conclude that an independent America was
22:45
more useful than a British American.
22:48
And Saratoga finally supplied the evidence Franklin needed.
22:52
The old man and the fur cap had done his job.
22:55
Britain's war against its colonies was now becoming
22:58
Britain's war against France, and the American Revolution had
23:02
just become a World War. For nearly a year, Benjamin
23:39
Franklin has been working France.
23:41
He has charmed Paris. He has cultivated Virgin.
23:45
He has helped secure money and supplies.
23:47
He has watched American privateers carry the war into
23:50
European waters. He has even conducted all of
23:54
this while a British spy sits practically inside the American
23:57
Commission. And yet, there is one thing
24:00
Franklin cannot provide proof Proof that the United States can
24:05
actually win this war. Because from the French
24:08
perspective, supporting America is one thing.
24:11
Going to war with Great Britain on America's behalf is something
24:14
else entirely. Franklin can make every argument
24:17
imaginable, but until the Continental Army demonstrates
24:20
that it can defeat a major British force, France has every
24:24
reason to remain cautious. Then in December 1777, someone
24:29
arrives at Pasi carrying the news Franklin has been waiting
24:32
for. His name is Jonathan Loring
24:36
Austin. He arrives at the American
24:38
Commission on December 4th, 1777, and the news he carries
24:44
changes everything. General John Burgoyne has
24:47
surrendered, not retreated, not been delayed, not fought to a
24:52
draw, surrendered. An entire British Army has been
24:56
forced to capitulate at Saratoga.
24:59
For Franklin, this is diplomatic gold, because Saratoga answers
25:04
the question Europeans have been asking since 1776.
25:08
Can these Americans actually fight?
25:12
Now Franklin has an answer. Yes, they can defeat a
25:15
professional British Army in a major conventional campaign, and
25:20
suddenly France is no longer being asked to rescue a
25:23
rebellion that appears to be dying.
25:26
France is being offered the opportunity to join a rebellion
25:29
that might actually win. But there is a catch.
25:34
Saratoga doesn't just create an opportunity for France, it
25:38
creates one for Britain as well. London understands the danger.
25:43
If France openly enters the war, Britain's problem becomes
25:46
enormously more difficult. So the British begin considering
25:50
something they had previously resisted, reconciliation.
25:55
Parliament moves toward offering substantial concessions to the
25:58
Americans, and now Vergen faces a strategic nightmare.
26:03
Suppose Britain offers the Americans enough.
26:06
Suppose London says essentially come home.
26:09
We'll work this out. If the Americans accept, France
26:13
loses its opportunity. Worse, France has spent money
26:17
and secretly supplied the Americans, only to watch Britain
26:21
recover its colonies and emerge from the crisis intact.
26:25
So Saratoga starts a race. Britain needs to reconcile with
26:29
the Americans before France enters the war.
26:32
France needs to bind the Americans to France before
26:35
reconciliation becomes possible. And Franklin understands
26:39
precisely what has happened. For the first time, the
26:43
Americans possess real leverage. Not philosophical leverage, Not
26:47
sympathy, not Benjamin Franklin's popularity.
26:51
Military leverage. Saratoga has made American
26:55
independence valuable. Now Franklin intends to cash it.
26:59
In February 6th, 1778, the Americans and the French signed
27:05
2 treaties, and the distinction between them matters.
27:09
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce establishes formal commercial
27:13
relations and critically recognizes the United States as
27:17
an independent nation. Think about the significance of
27:21
that. The United States has declared
27:23
itself independent. Now 1 of Europe's great powers
27:27
is formally treating it as independent.
27:30
Then comes the Treaty of Alliance.
27:32
This goes much further. France and the United States are
27:36
tying their military fortunes together against Britain.
27:40
Franklin, Silas Dean and Arthur Lee sign for the United States,
27:44
and with those signatures the strategic character of the
27:47
American Revolution changes. But Franklin apparently has one
27:52
small piece of unfinished personal business, and for that
27:57
we need to talk about his clothes.
28:00
Now look at what has actually happened before 1778.
28:04
Britain is primarily fighting an American rebellion.
28:07
It is an enormous problem. Certainly, Britain has to
28:11
transport armies across the Atlantic, supply them, occupy
28:14
territory and suppress an insurgency spread across a
28:18
continent. But after the French alliance,
28:21
Britain isn't merely fighting Americans anymore.
28:24
Britain is fighting France. That means British planners can
28:28
no longer concentrate exclusively on North America.
28:32
They have to think about the Caribbean.
28:34
They have to think about European waters.
28:36
They have to think about India. They have to protect British
28:40
commerce. They have to protect colonies
28:42
and naval bases. And eventually other European
28:46
powers become involved in the wider conflict.
28:49
The American Revolution has become part of a global war.
28:53
That is the strategic transformation Franklin had been
28:56
sent to achieve. America doesn't necessarily need
29:00
to become stronger than Britain. It needs Britain to have too
29:04
many things to defend, and France makes that possible.
29:10
Now look at what has actually happened before 1778.
29:14
Britain is primarily fighting an American rebellion.
29:18
It is an enormous problem. Certainly Britain has to
29:21
transport armies across the Atlantic, supply them, occupy
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territory and suppress an insurgency spread across a
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continent. But after the French alliance,
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Britain isn't merely fighting Americans anymore.
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Britain is fighting France. That means British planners can
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no longer concentrate exclusively on North America.
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They have to think about the Caribbean.
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They have to think about European waters, they have to
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think about India. They have to protect British
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commerce, they have to protect colonies and naval bases, and
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eventually other European powers become involved in the wider
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conflict. The American Revolution has
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become part of a global war. That is the strategic
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transformation Franklin had been sent to achieve.
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America doesn't necessarily need to become stronger than Britain.
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It needs Britain to have too many things to defend, and
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France makes that possible. Now the Americans gain access to
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resources they simply could not create themselves.
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French money, French soldiers, French military professionals
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and siege engineers, and above all, French naval power.
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That last point is essential. Washington can build an army.
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He can train soldiers, he can fight British troops on land.
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But George Washington cannot manufacture a battle fleet
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without naval power. Britain retains an enormous
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strategic advantage. It's army can be supplied from
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the sea, it can move along the coast.
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And when necessary, British forces can potentially escape by
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sea. French intervention changes that
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equation. Which brings us to Virginia 1781
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and Lord Cornwallis. Three years after Franklin signs
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the French alliance, the consequences arrive at Yorktown.
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Washington and Rochambeau move their combined American and
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French forces S French troops are there.
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French artillery is there. French siege expertise is there.
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But the decisive peace is offshore.
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The French fleet under Admiral de Grasse controls the
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Chesapeake. After defeating a British relief
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effort at the Battle of the Chesapeake.
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Cornwallis is trapped. The British Army cannot simply
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be evacuated by the Royal Navy. Washington can close the trap on
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land because France has helped close it at sea.
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And on October 19th, 1781, Cornwallis's army surrenders.
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Now go back five years, October 1776, a 70 year old Benjamin
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Franklin boards the reprisal. Washington is losing New York.
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The Continental Army is retreating.
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Congress needs guns, artillery, money and ships.
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Franklin sails across a winter Atlantic carrying 35 casks of
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indigo and an assignment that borders on fantasy.
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Convince one of the great monarchies of Europe to help a
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collection of rebellious British colonies become an independent
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Republic. It takes more than a year.
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It takes Saratoga. It takes French self-interest.
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It takes money. It takes diplomacy.
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It takes Franklin's celebrity, and eventually it takes 2
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signatures on 2 treaties. But it works.
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And that changes the way we should think about the American
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victory. Yorktown isn't simply the story
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of Washington defeating Cornwallis.
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The road to Yorktown runs through Saratoga, it runs
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through Pasi, it runs through Versailles, and it runs all the
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way back to that miserable Atlantic crossing in 1776.
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Washington won the revolution on the battlefield, but the
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battlefield on which he could finally win it was shaped in no
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small part by Benjamin Franklin, a 70 year old printer,
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scientist, politician and diplomat who understood that if
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America could not defeat the British Empire alone, then
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perhaps the answer was to make certain Britain was no longer
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fighting America alone.